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Sunday, March 24, 2013

Seat Stash Tutorial

One week left until Girl Friday Sews officially begins, and I thought I'd whet your appetite with an early tutorial for your very own Seat Stash pocket. When I was a teacher, I used to risk life and limb every day trying to walk down classroom aisles that were cluttered with all the books, folders, and papers that wouldn't fit in the kids' desks. Then one year our school ordered these incredible pockets that fit on the back of the student chairs. Not only did my life expectancy improve by at least five years, but my classroom aisles became clean overnight.

I've been wanting to make one of these for Bear to use now that's she's doing her home schooling at a plastic Ikea desk and chair in the family room. We keep her supply kit on a chair next to her desk during school, but this pocket will be the perfect home for her worksheet folder. The Seat Stash is a snap to make -- you can easily whip up one in less than an hour. The measurements in my tutorial will fit a 16" wide chair back, but you can adapt this by measuring the width of your chair and adding two inches to the number you get. All of my fabrics for this project are from Once Upon a Time by Alexander Henry -- perfect girly bliss for my little Bear.

1. Make your pocket. Fold the pocket piece in half (wrong sides together) with the 18" ends touching. Slip the piece of batting in between the folded ends so that you have a nice sandwich. Sew 1/4" from the fold, and then quilt the rest as desired. I chose to sew horizontal lines at ever widening intervals down the front of mine. By the way, be careful as you work with this piece if it's a directional print -- ask me how I know this... :)

2. Make the main body pieces for the pocket. Take an interior and exterior piece, right sides together, and sew 1/4" from one 18" end. Fold one piece back so that the wrong sides are together and the edges match up. Press and then top stitch 1/4" from the fold.

Repeat with the other pieces EXCEPT add the pocket in there on top of the exterior piece with the bottom raw edges of the pocket lined up with the other two pieces. Again, check your direction on the pocket before you sew these together!

3. Assemble your pocket. Place the two panels on top of each, interior pieces facing each other with the pocket on the bottom. Hold them together with pins or clips. Sew 1/4" from the edge around the sides and top, leaving the bottom open and back stitching at both ends.

Trim the corners and turn the piece inside out, pushing out the corners with a chopstick. Press. Sew 1/2" from the edge around the sides and top this time, again back stitching at both ends. Turn the pocket right side out, pushing out the corners with a chopstick. Give it a good press all over and fit it onto your chair. It's ready to go!

I love a project that's easy to make but incredibly useful at the same time, so this really works for me. I also think a patchwork version of this would be adorable, and one of those may soon be in my future since Bunny gave me quite the "how-could-you-make-one-of-these-for-my-sister-and-not-for-me-if-you-really-loved-me" look when she saw Bear joyfully parading her well dressed chair around the house this afternoon. If you make a Seat Stash, please share pictures with us in the Girl Friday Sews Flickr group which you can find here. We'd love to see what you're making!

Darling seat cover and great idea. I know what you mean about cluttered passages between desks. I teach jr. high and those huge backpacks or the strings from the smaller ones are likely to break my neck some day! Thank you for stopping by my blog!

Love these! I'd be tempted to use some webbing to add a shoulder strap, then my disorganized middle school students could carry it to their next class. (But that would take a few hundred hours out of my summer - especially since I'd want to add names :)

nice to meet you

My name is Heidi Staples, and I'm so glad you're here! I love to sew, design fabric, write sewing patterns, and spend time with my sweet family here in the Texas Hill Country. Pull up a chair, and let's visit for a while!

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You are more than welcome to share links and pictures from my blog as long as you give credit to me here at Fabric Mutt. All content of this blog is created and owned by me, Heidi Staples, unless otherwise stated. Thanks for your help!